laziest meals...that look like you made an effort

[ghoulelocks]

can we pool ideas, those meals that get brownie points but are very little effort.

My contribution:

lamb casserole:
diced meat
frozen veg (tesco do nice and chunky mix)
few spices

throw in big pot, oven 90min. looks lovely, don't even get a knife dirty and takes about 2 min prep.

Chicken in pesto,
Put lumps of chicken into slow cooker - If I am feeling supremely lazy I buy chicken lumps already chopped
Add jar of pesto
Cook on low for approx 8 hours

I like it served with rice and steamed veg.
Often get asked for the recipe for this one and often feel the need to exaggerate the process!

My version of Eton mess goes like this;

meringues - ready made and bashed up
strawberries - chopped up (this is a good way to use up strawberries that are a bit past their best!)
greek yogurt

stick all together and drizzle with honey - its delicious!!

Pesto Salmon

Salmon fillet
cover with pesto
grate on cheese
sprinkle with breadcrumbs

wrap the whole thing in tin foil and bung in oven for about 25min gas mark 7

I normally serve with rice and veg.

Its delicious, healthy, dd loves it and takes virtually no effort - all boxes ticked

yum yum

Here is a quick but impressive chicken recipe - fresh and flavourful. You can leave out the green chillies or add it whole, without chopping, to make the dish less hot.

Coconut Chicken

? Coconut milk 2 1/2 cups
? Boneless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces 2
? Fresh coriander leaves with roots 1/4 cup
? Fish sauce 2 teaspoons
? Green chillies 1
? Fresh red chillies 1-2
? Lemon 1
? Fresh basil leaves 15-18
? Salt to taste

Method

Chop coriander leaves with roots. Put chicken pieces in a deep non stick pan, add fish sauce and mix. Chop green and red chillies and add along with coriander leaves. Grate rind of ½ a lemon and add. Add coconut milk, basil leaves and salt and mix. Cook on medium heat till chicken is completely cooked. Serve hot with steamed jasmine rice.

Alternatively you can cook it in an oven. Put the chicken mixture into individual ramekin moulds after adding coconut milk, basil leaves and salt. Cover and cook in a preheated oven at 180ºC for about 30 minutes.

Boil pasta (we use whole meal). Drain. Stir through feta or soft goats cheese -it will get melts and make a sauce which can be thinned down with a bit of milk if you like. Stir in olive oil, chopped tomatoes, fresh spinach, black pitted olives, and pine nuts or chopped walnuts and heat through. Add cracked black pepper. Delish.

I forget that I also do a chicken version of sausage tray bake posted up thread. Substitute sausages for:

Chicken pieces with chopped chorizo

Or

Chicken breast chunks chucked in a mix of yoghurt and mint. You can add a squeeze of lemon too if you cba.

Don't have oven too high for chicken, about 170 is top for a fan or 150. Sausages you can whack up much higher.

Lamb/chicken tagine - add chopped lamb/chicken pieces to seasoned flour (you can add cumin powder if you wish). Throw peeled, quartered onions in the bottom of the tagine (casserole with lid will do too), chuck in one of the following:

? veg (chopped aubergine, courgette) and tinned chopped tomatoes. You can also add chick peas if you want for texture or to make the meat go further.

? Yoghurt, dried apricots and flaked almonds

? chick peas and tomatoes

Cook in oven until meat cooked and sizzling.

You can either bung in some new potatoes or peeled and chopped potato with the meat or serve with rice or cous cous.

Can you really use frozen chicken in the slow cooker. My favourite trick is always forgetting to get the chicken out the freezer the night before!

If the chicken breast says cook from frozen on the bag then you can, but otherwise I wouldn't risk it.

I always buy Asda Smart price frozen chicken breast. You get about 6, sometimes 7, for 3.99. I have been using them for a year and they are fantastic. You can definitely cook from frozen as it says on the packet.

Sausage Sizzle

Cut a pack of sausages into pieces, brown under grill. Place in ovenproof dish. Add a pack of frozen char grilled veg. Whack in the oven for 30 mins on high. Just before serving sprinkle half a pack of grated mozzarella cheese over the top. Serve with garlic bread.

These are splendid and I may have 'borrowed' a few to print.

When my DS's have friends over, I do a 'homemade' pizza with ready puff pastry on a baking tray, spread with tomato puree. Tear mozarella and bung on top, add pepperoni slices (or ham/mushrooms ... whatever). Sprinkle with herbs and bake for 15 or so mins on gas 5.

Peanut butter cookies, so easy my 7yo can do them and great for those morning wake up calls of 'muuuum! There's a bake sale today'.

Preheat the oven to 180deg, line a baking tray with parchment or just grease it. Whizz 7oz sugar and 6oz of peanut butter ( I use supermarkets own,crunchy) in a food processor and then add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda and whizz at again. Roll into balls and flatten between palms and place on baking tray. Bung in the oven for 10-15 mins. Very scrummy and always go fast.

I'll be back when I think of something !

Quornqueen, do you grill your home made flatbreads - or eat them "raw"??

Eton mess (mentioned twice) is one of my favourites - but I put the hulled strawberries (ripe) in a bowl sprinkled with vanilla sugar* and leave for few hours - the juice will come out and strawberries soften and you can quickly mash them with a fork - less chopping! (you can add more sugar and leave out meringues and its strawberry fool!)
In fact you can do the same with any type of soft fruit/or made fruit puree mixed in semi whipped double cream - and its a 'fool' (although rhubarb is best if you add in some custard too)

(*Vanilla sugar - everyone should have some - castor sugar in a sealed jar with a vanilla pod or two and keep topping up the sugar as you use it -will keep working for years (mines 12+ years old) - say goodbye to fake essence for ever! -and use in everything - and if you don't have castor sugar use granulated! if you are fussy you can liquidise it first but for most things there's no real difference- just the grain size)

All 'victoria sandwich type' cakes - (20z sugar, 2oz butter, 1 egg and 2oz 'self raising' flour -scale up as nec) especially for things like jam sponge puddings/fairy cakes etc - can be made in a food processor/magimix - best to do the sugar, butter and most of eggs first - then just a quick blast with last of egg and the flour... takes seconds ...(probably won't get you an award for the lightest at the local WI competition but most people wouldn't notice)...
Jam sponge (mentioned earlier) - can also use lemon curd - or marmalade -or chopped apples (Eve's pudding) or even pineapple rings (Pineapple upside down cake!)

Finally something I thought everyone knew but just found out they don't - self raising flour is just plain flour with baking powder - in general 8oz flour to 1 teaspoon of baking powder (but check on the baking powder tub -got some cheap stuff once that was 4 teaspoons - must have been bulked out with flour or something).

And for all those cooking fish in foil - you can do the same with almost any fish and even skinless chicken breast ...its called cooking 'en papillote'
To be really posh - you can serve it in it - so guests open it and release the 'delicious cooking aromas' ...to look prettier you can use good quality baking parchment - but making a good sealed parcel is more faff...

A couple of chalet girl dodges - microwaved boursin (various flavours) - sauce for chicken, pork, fish or veal.... and microwaved mars bars make a delicious chocolate pudding sauce ...

Baked savoury pancakes.

Make pancakes and lay them on to a baking sheet
Fry onions and mushrooms with a bit of garlic and seasoning.
Either make a quick cheese sauce or shop bought.
Nuke a block of spinach or fresh in the microwave

Then, good spoonful of sauce on half a pancake, add spinach and mushroom mixture.

Fold pancake in half half again so they are quartered and bake for 20 mins in the oven.

Serve with salad and warm bread.

You can put anything in the pancakes and serve with tomato salsa instead of cheese sauce too.

They look pretty and are very yum!

Forgot one - sweet and sour sauce...I use pork but you could use chicken legs etc - need skin on or add a bit of oil - just to stop meat sticking...
Pork loin steaks (boneless chops - or boned if you like but take longer to cook!) -v. hot pan, no oil - put steaks up on their sides with fat down when fat has melted/crisped up, brown on both sides - then turn heat down and cook them through. Take out and 'rest' on a plate covered in foil (can put this on top of boiling veg to keep warmer if you like).

Should be little fat left in pan ...if lots pour some away. Turn heat up - sprinkle with a little sugar, when it starts to bubble (caramelise -but hard to tell in dark pan), pour in some vinegar/ lemon juice - let it boil off then throw in a dessert spoon of mustard and couple of spoons of tomato ketchup (can use tomato puree if you prefer) and quite a bit of tap water...stir it round and let it boil up (reduce). Plate up chops with veg of choice - pouring any juices from meat plate into sauce - sauce should now be thick enough (look like a sauce!) to pour over meat - if not leave a bit longer - or if not enough sauce/too thick (over reduced) just add a drop more water...sounds a faff but really really easy once you have done it once...
(If you burn the frying pan you can do the whole sauce thing in a clean pan - not quite as nice but it will work ok ...if you prefer more acidic don't boil off all the vinegar/lemon, tom puree will need more (or less caramelised) sugar ...

Someone mentioned earlier the Beef Strogonoff in Slow Cooker...A real winner at dinner parties.

Brown cubed beef, onion & a variety of mushrooms (oyster & shitake good). Bung in pot.
Worcester sauce, pepper, tin of condensed mushroom soup. French Mustard. Bung in pot.
Fill up empty tin of soup with milk.
splosh in the pot.

Leave in slow cooker for min of 4 hours, have done for 12 hours before. Half an hour before ready to serve stir in half a pot of Boursin or similar soft cheese.

Ready to serve with rice. Restaurant quality, zero stress level.

Amaretto peaches: used tinned halved peaches, arrange flat side up in a baking dish. Crumble two amaretti biscuits on to of each peach half, sprinkle cinnamon on to and a little juice from the tin. Bake for 15 min. Dead easy, and yummy.

mummyplonk. - I love the sound of that recipe. I will definitely be cutting and pasting that one!

Thick Greek Yoghurt
Whipped cream folded in
That dark brown sugar stuff that melts when it gets moist

Ta-da, as they say

Banana split yoghurts (to impress children)

Greek yoghurt
Slice a banana on top
Drizzle with chocolate sauce

Afogato

Scoop of good vanilla ice cream
Pour over a cup of hot espresso

Soup

Boil up all leftover vegetables in the pan the day before you go shopping
Wait until mushy
Puree with hand blender

Boffin's Mum's Pizza

Cut a French stick in half lengthways and widthways
Top it with tomato puree and grated cheese and possibly a bit of salami
Grill

Cake in a mug - my record is 7and a half minutes from first getting the idea I needed one:

4 dessertspoons s/r flour
3 dsps sugar
Heaped teaspoon cocoa powder
3 dsps vegetable oil
6 dsps water

Mix everything together - scraping out the bottom corners of the mug
Microwave on full power for approx 2 mins (depends on your m/w's power)

For a larger version, which takes about 7 minutes in a microwave:
nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/52-diet-simple-chocolate-cake-vegan.html

Other ideas:
Bread in 13 minutes, costs about 4-5p:
nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/bread-in-13-minutes.html

Pizza:
nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/52-diet-cheese-and-tomato-pizza.html

Most people have the idea that anything bread-like has to take ages. If you double the yeast in that recipe, you can be eating it within 45 minutes.

Make and shape the pizza (which will set you back all of 80p!) as per recipe (2 x the yeast):
Turn the oven on.
When it's hot enough, put your kitchen timer on for one minute (THAT'S IMPORTANT!)
Put your pizza in the oven - take it out after 1 minute.
Leave for 5 minutes, then repeat.
Leave for 5 minutes then place in the oven to cook.

You'll never want to buy one again!

Marking place. Have lovely choc pud cake to add - not enough time atm!